poetry

DG Admin has a difficult time riding herd on this forum, which goes from shallow to deep waters very quickly. Maybe the poetry label will make us behave and pay attention to the assigned topic. But, really, who's going to read poetry when they don't have to? I think I'll have this thread all to myself.
My understanding of people is that they trust facts and opinions from a select group: scientists and powerful people in media, government, religion, etc.
Call me crazy, but I find more truth in the artists, who are way ahead of people with clipboards and test tubes and data.

One example is Rudyard Kipling. Here's what he said a long time ago about gardening. Google to read the whole poem, entitled "The Glory of the Garden."
Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:--"Oh, how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives.

So what does this have to do with sustainable practices? Well, 99% of people who call themselves gardeners use shortcuts to "take care" of their land. It's just real estate to them. Property. The modern American landscape is pretty useless but very high maintenance. Synthetic chemicals to kill weeds & bugs, power equipment to manicure grass and shrubs. These practices are not sustainable, which term goes beyond the forums on organic gardening and other specific threads.
One good bit of news: I read somewhere that WalMart and one of the big hardware chains (Lowe's or Home Depot) are stopping their sales of cypress mulch. Maybe we ARE learning to sustain life on the planet.